The government on Friday denied media reports of 'secrete' plans of purging Supreme Court judges by withdrawing the executive order that restored deposed judges on March 16, 2009 but warned the judiciary from playing politics. Warning the judges of superior judiciary against overstepping their constitutional mandate, Law Minister Babar Awan said 'institutions which fall in services of Pakistan category must not take part in politics.'
Addressing a press conference along with Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, the law minister said, "Institutions wherein politics is not allowed should not speak...and if somebody has a misunderstanding that they are more popular than us, we want to say it cannot happen." He, however, did not mention any person or the organisation he referred to.
When asked which institutions he believed was into politics despite a constitutional bar, Awan did not name any and replied: "You know it better than me." Giving reference to the incidents from the past two-decade wherein judiciary had been supporting dictators including Musharraf after 1999 coup, he said "It is necessary for the stability of the country that the judiciary should speak through its verdict and not through tickers (electronic media)."
Babar's 'warning' to a growingly assertive judiciary came a day after a 'perplex' reaction by the Supreme Court to media reports that the government wanted to withdraw a notification it issued early last year to restore judges sacked by former president Pervez Musharraf in 2007. The law minister said there wasn't any such plan but refused to comment when asked whether the judiciary must have reacted in such a way. "I don't want to comment on this."
Babar appeared to be agreeing with a ruling by the Supreme Court earlier in the day that the government could not withdraw the executive order of judges' restoration because it was given a legal cover in July 31, 2009 decision. "Since then (July 2009), it has become a judicial decision which does not need any validation," he remarked.
Awan also mentioned what is often referred as a 'partial' role of the Supreme Court by saying that it should also hear a petition of former air chief Asghar Khan that is relating to distribution of money by a secret agency during 1990 general elections among political leaders. "We back calls for an early hearing of Asghar Khan's petition," the minister said. When asked as to why the PM did not come up with a written denial of media report in the apex court on Friday, he said the premier denied these 'baseless' news last night and that 'must have been respected'.
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